


a little drop of dreams

by BonesOfBirdWings



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Game elements played seriously, Horror, Lovecraftian, M/M, Pre-Slash, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:10:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonesOfBirdWings/pseuds/BonesOfBirdWings
Summary: There are strange things going on in Stardew Valley, and Sebastian isn't sure what's worse: the new farmer or Maru's attempts to drag him into her investigation.





	a little drop of dreams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Piscaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piscaria/gifts).



> Hi, Piscaria! I hope you like this!
> 
> Thanks go to my internet dad for the title and for beta'ing.

The warning signs had started years before Sebastian was born.

He’d grown up with Halloween celebrations that included living, malicious skeletons, caged and clawing at the bars. He’d dug up wriggling worms with his friends, learning that they marked the location of strange fruits and even stranger books, ancient tomes written in an incomprehensible script. After a few days, the books would always disappear.

He hadn’t known this wasn’t normal until he discovered the Internet, but even then, it had been more interesting to dream of bustling cities and entire groups of people like him. Pondering the mysteries of his hometown wasn’t a priority.

Or it wasn’t until the new farmer arrived. He’d just come unexpectedly one day and settled down in the plot of land east of Sebastian’s home. The local kids had been trying to explore that abandoned farmland for years, but the shrubs were overgrown, the trees unwelcoming. There had been an air of anger, a deeply buried rage. No one was brave enough to venture too deeply into it.

But then the farmer had come and just... moved in. He’d started clearing the looming trees and trimming back the grass. For the first time, the plot of farmland started to feel normal, almost welcoming. Still, all of the locals were reluctant to approach it.

Thus Sebastian first met him when he came to visit Sebastian’s mom’s business. He looked awfully normal, with his short, brown hair and his kind, blue eyes, Sebastian observed as he peeked around the kitchen doorway. He didn’t look anything like the wizard that lived in the tower south of town or like the monsters that were rumored to live deep in the mines. He looked like... a farmer.

“Hi!” the farmer exclaimed, catching sight of Sebastian. “My name is A̢̨a҉̸̡̛̕r̕͞҉ǫ͞͡n̷͘͡͠.”

“Uhh,” Sebastian said, wondering if his ears were damaged from his recent band practice with Sam and Abigail. “Could you repeat that?”

The farmer laughed. “Yeah, no problem. My name’s Aaron. What’s your name?”

“Sebastian,” he replied curtly, and retreated into the kitchen, unwilling to make small talk with this stranger. He hoped that the farmer – Aaron – wouldn’t come around too often.

His hope, of course, was in vain, because nothing ever went the way he wanted it to. Aaron came by the house every couple of days, sometimes to buy lumber or a piece of furniture, but more often to loiter.

After a few months, the farmer had thoroughly charmed both his mom and Maru, and was making good headway with Demetrius. It was annoying as fuck, and Sebastian wanted nothing to do with it.

“You really should try to be nicer to Aaron,” Robin chided him over dinner. Sebastian shifted in his chair, unable to escape from the conversation. He started shoveling food into his mouth a touch faster.

“He’s a cool guy,” Maru felt the need to contribute. Sebastian bristled instinctively. Of course perfect little Maru would like him, with his stupid, handsome face and his need to be an overachieving people-pleaser. They were a perfect match.

“Maybe you could get off that computer once in awhile and say hello,” Demetrius chimed in. Sebastian grit his teeth and clenched his fork tightly. There was something mean and upset and vindictive bubbling in his chest, and if he opened his mouth, it would spill out. So, he just shrugged and concentrated on his meal, hoping that they would all just leave him alone about it.

Of course he couldn’t be that lucky. The next time Aaron came by the house, Robin burst into his room without knocking and then dragged him upstairs.

Sebastian swallowed down his angry words. His family had never understood his need for privacy and seclusion, and he doubted that they ever would. Any protests he made were routinely ignored.

“Sebastian,” his mom said, firmly shoving him at the farmer. “This is Aaron. Talk to him for five minutes, please.” She turned towards the lumber stores, leaving the two of them alone.

The farmer laughed, unfairly at-ease in this awkward situation. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I drag you from something?”

Sebastian knew that this was supposed to be just a meaningless pleasantry, and he was supposed to answer that, no, of course not, he was happy to talk. “Yes,” he said.

The farmer actually looked concerned. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he replied. “I didn’t realize. I’ll let you get back to it then.” Surprisingly, it seemed like he meant it.

“Oh.” Sebastian was taken off-guard. “Okay.”

Aaron smiled. “I’ll tell Robin that you stayed and made appropriate small-talk.” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “You can go back to what you were doing – I honestly don’t mind.”

Sebastian couldn’t do much more than nod and make a hasty retreat. His mom didn’t storm into his room angrily or make pointed comments over dinner, so he assumed Aaron had been as good as his word. He grudgingly admitted to himself that perhaps he hadn’t given the farmer a fair chance. Next time he met him, he would try to hold a conversation – it was the least he could do.

His chance came a couple days later. He was smoking a cigarette by the lake when he encountered Aaron, who was emerging from the old mines, covered in blood and dirt.

“What happened?” Sebastian couldn’t help but blurt out.

Aaron looked confused for a brief moment before noticing the blood stains on his clothing and smiling ruefully. “Those bats were a bit more vicious than I expected.”

“Bats?” Sebastian exclaimed. He’d seen bats fly out of the cave before, but they always seemed small and harmless. What sort of monstrous, vicious bats had Aaron encountered?

“Yeah,” Aaron nodded. “And some weird spirits? But they mostly stayed back. And... whispered things, but that’s not important right now.”

“Are you... okay?” Sebastian asked, uncertain what to make of the farmer’s babble.

“I’m fine,” Aaron reassured him with an unconvincing smile.

“Alright,” Sebastian agreed. He didn’t know Aaron well enough to argue. “You’re gonna go wash all that off, right?”

“First thing I’ll do when I get home,” the farmer confirmed.

“Okay,” Sebastian said, still feeling very much out of his depth. Maru, he was sure, would know what to do. For one brief moment, he fervently wished that he knew even the basics of first aid. “Take care.”

Aaron laughed. In the hazy twilight, stained dark by bat blood, he looked vaguely ominous. “You take care,” he shot back. He nodded towards Sebastian’s cigarette. “Those things will kill you before the bats manage to get me.” The words had a faint, solemn weight to them.

At least being called out on his unhealthy habits was familiar. With an annoyed huff, Sebastian snuffed out his cigarette and stomped off to his room, leaving a bemused farmer in his wake. _Serves him right_ , Sebastian thought viciously, glad that for the first time he wasn’t the one feeling wrong-footed.

The next day, there was a knock on Sebastian’s bedroom door. “Come in,” Sebastian called, pausing his video game. He was confused – no one knocked on his door, choosing instead to just barge in.

The door was pushed timidly open, and to Sebastian’s surprise, the farmer poked his head around the corner.

“Hey,” Aaron said sheepishly, “so, umm, I’m really sorry about last night.”

“It’s fine,” Sebastian replied automatically, even though he wasn’t really quite sure about that. It felt like something had changed, like he was more aware of... something. Like Aaron was somehow more in-focus now – like he had been blurry before, and Sebastian hadn’t noticed until his vision had suddenly gotten sharper. But he couldn’t articulate what he was feeling, so he just left it at that.

“Well,” Aaron continued, stepping a little further into the room, “I brought something for you. I found it in the mines yesterday, and well – I thought – I mean, I hoped that maybe you’d like it?” He extended his cupped hands towards Sebastian, opening them to reveal a beautiful, glassy stone that looked like a strange frozen teardrop.

“Wow,” Sebastian breathed. He reached out a finger to stroke its unnaturally smooth surface. “It’s beautiful.”

Aaron smiled, a truly happy, crinkly-eyed smile. Sebastian realized that he’d never seen Aaron honestly smile before. He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry.

“Thanks,” Sebastian blurted out, trying not to stare at Aaron’s shining eyes or his cute dimples or his lips. “You didn’t have to, but I appreciate it. I... really love it.”

Aaron gently deposited the frozen teardrop in Sebastian’s hand. “I’m glad,” he said softly. One of his hands settled gently on top of Sebastian’s.

Even after Aaron had left the room (with promises that he’d bring Sebastian more things from the mines), Sebastian still couldn’t breathe. His skin tingled where Aaron had touched him.

He made the mistake of mentioning Aaron’s gift to his family at dinner that night. Maru demanded to see it.

“It’s my gift!” Sebastian snarled. “You have no right –”

“Yoba’s light, Sebastian, I don’t want to take it!” Maru cried exasperatedly. “But you must have noticed – weird things are happening in the valley.”

“Oh, Maru,” Demetrius sighed, “not this again. I’ve told you –”

“No,” Maru interrupted. “Dad, this isn’t some... some flight of fancy!” Sebastian hid his smirk behind his hand. For once, it was nice to see Perfect Maru being criticized by their parents.

“What would you call it then?” Demetrius asked pointedly.

“Observation?” Maru retorted and oh, this is the most disrespectful Sebastian’s ever heard her. “One day, the community center’s a wreck, and then, literally overnight, room by room, it’s being repaired. Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd? Or maybe the museum – have you even gone to look at the collection recently?”

Demetrius snorted. “I’ve donated most of the collection, Maru. Little bits and bobs, interesting minerals I find around the mines...”

“How about scrolls in an untranslatable language? Or ancient, alien instruments?” Maru fired back. “And Gunther – please, just think for a moment – when did he arrive? Where does he live?”

“He’s been here forever, honey,” Robin answered. “Now, can we please –”

“No,” Maru cried, “please, think! He wasn’t around during my childhood, was he? I went to the library every day, and he was never there. But now he is – and I don’t remember when he came. No one does.”

Demetrius laughed. “Maru, darling, it sounds like you’ve been reading too many of those books in Sebastian’s room.” Sebastian scowled fiercely at him. “I’d be the first to admit that sometimes, things that seem almost magical can happen in this valley, but they all have a scientific explanation. Really, you’re a bit old for all of this.”

“Okay,” Mom interrupted. Maru looked close to tears. “That’s enough of that. No more arguing at the dinner table.”

Dinner wrapped up quickly after that. Maru was unwilling to talk to anyone and Sebastian, like usual, managed to reply to questions with monosyllabic answers. Eventually their parents just gave up in frustration.

Later that night, there was a timid knock on Sebastian’s door. He sighed and put down his book. “Come in, Maru,” he called out reluctantly.

Maru slowly pushed open the door. Her eyes were a little red-rimmed and the tilt of her lips unexpectedly vulnerable.

“Have you been crying?” Sebastian blurted out, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth.

Maru glared at him. “Yeah,” she bit out.

Sebastian winced. He got to his feet and crossed to room to gently take down the frozen tear from its shelf. He carefully deposited it in Maru’s hands.

From the way she beamed at him, he knew she had heard his unspoken apology. “Can I take it back to my room?” she asked eagerly.

“Sure,” Sebastian said, grudgingly. He knew it would mean a lot to Maru, and whatever she thought she was noticing in the valley was obviously distressing her. It didn’t mean that he liked the thought of Aaron’s gift in her room, in her hands, but refusing her request would just be cruel at this point. “But you need to give it back soon,” he warned. “And it better be unharmed!”

“Of course,” Maru agreed. “Thank you, Sebastian.” She rose to her feet, and then shot a brief smile at Sebastian. “It really was very kind of Aaron to give you this.” Before Sebastian could think of a reply, Maru had already left.

 _Kind, sure_ , Sebastian thought, dissatisfied with the word. _Kind. He’s being kind_.

He didn’t see Aaron for the next few days, even though he somehow found himself going outside more often. He even ventured into places he hadn’t explored since he was a little kid. He told himself that his new-found adventurous spirit was a result of Maru making it sound like there was a mystery to be solved out here. The slight disappointment that reemerged every time he failed to run into Aaron wasn’t relevant.

“I think you’re right,” Sebastian told Maru when she returned his frozen tear. “You know that old elevator in the mines?”

“The mines that we were definitely never supposed to go into?” Maru said wryly. “Yeah, I know it.”

“So when I was a kid, Sam dared me to go into it. Actually,” Sebastian clarified, “he dared me to take it down to the bottom floor. I didn’t!” he protested when Maru gaped at him in disbelief. “I know what this family thinks of me, but I promise I’m not that stupid.”

He ignored Maru’s faint, protesting “ _Sebastian_ ” and soldiered on. “Anyway, when I was a kid, the elevator was worked with a lever and there was an old sign there that said it went safely down to level ten and then you’d have to use a raise to get down further than that. So I was in the mines yesterday, and I looked, and it’s completely changed. There are little buttons now, for every five floors. And the numbers go all the way to 120.”

Maru stared at him. “That’s... too deep to be feasible.”

“Yeah,” Sebastian agreed. “And there’s something behind that old rockfall. I don’t know what it is, but I can hear faint muttering.”

“Speaking of muttering,” Maru said grimly, “that rock.”

Sebastian reflexively clutched the frozen tear closer. “What about it?”

“It...” Maru paused. “I can’t really.... Just, keep an ear out, okay? I don’t want to influence your observations. Sometimes... it feels like all of this is in my head, and I’m just being hysterical. I don’t... I don’t want to drag you down if I’m wrong about all of this.”

“Okay,” Sebastian agreed. Maru smiled and him and got up to leave his room. When she was at the door, he called out, “Maru?”

She turned to look at him quizzically.

“I don’t think you’re going crazy,” Sebastian reassured her, feeling like the words had to be said. “Things have always been a little weird in this valley, but I feel like they’re getting stranger too. It’s not just you.”

“Thank you, Sebastian,” Maru said, gratitude in her eyes. He waved off her thanks, suddenly uncomfortable.

He realized, after she left the room, that their conversation had been entirely amicable. It was... pleasant, but the more he mused on it, the more guilt curdled in his stomach. He resolutely shunted the thought to the back of his mind.

The next afternoon, Maru knocked politely on Sebastian’s door and asked if he’d like to go to the library with her. He wasn’t doing anything very interesting at the moment – his latest website design job was straightforward and uncreative – so he slipped on a ratty pair of tennis shoes and headed out with Maru.

The sun was uncomfortably bright and Sebastian immediately longed to go back inside. It was early enough in the afternoon that people were still out and about, and everyone seemed to want to make small talk. Sebastian hung back from these conversations, letting Maru do the talking. A strange mixture of envy and gratefulness bubbled in his gut as he watched Maru effortlessly charm the villagers.

Finally, just as Sebastian was seriously contemplating turning around and heading back home, they made it to the library. Sebastian hadn’t been here in ages – he had faint memories of gazing at the small collection of rocks in the “town museum” and running through the shelves of books as Robin shushes him, but he’d stopped going after he’d started middle school.

The library looked... different. There was something subtly off about it compared to the building that Sebastian remembered, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. As he was staring intently at the brick façade, he heard rapid footsteps behind him.

“Hey!” Aaron called out. Both Maru and Sebastian turned to see him approaching with his arms overflowing with a load of books and knickknacks. “What are you two doing here?” he asked them, smiling widely.

Maru glanced at Sebastian instead of taking the lead in conversations like she usually did. Sebastian froze.

“Uh,” he stammered out. “We’re... going to the library?”

Aaron laughed, but not unkindly. “So am I,” he said, hefting his load a little in illustration. “Would you mind –”

“Of course,” Sebastian interrupted, stepping forward to take some of the items from Aaron. Up close, they were a strange assortment of items. Sebastian took a drum inscribed with unfamiliar symbols, a piece of grimy gold jewelry that tingled against his fingers, and a pink rock that seemed to burn with an inner fire.

“Thanks,” Aaron said with a little laugh. “I was going to ask if you would get the door, but this works as well.

Sebastian blushed as Maru opened the door for them. He was embarrassed, but surprisingly didn’t feel the need to retreat as he sometimes did in these situations. Aaron wasn’t making fun of him for his social faux-pas, and it didn’t feel like the other man was judging him for his awkwardness.

“Gunther!” Aaron sang out as they entered the library. “I have some donations for you!”

The large, bespectacled man behind the counter snorted. “It’s a library, boy. How many times do I have to tell you to keep your voice down?”

Aaron plopped the books on the counter and gestured for Sebastian to do the same with his armful of items. “At least one more time,” he replied cheekily.

Maru stepped over to the counter and peered at the books curiously. They were all bound with blue-dyed leather. “Where did you find these?” she asked.

“Around town,” Aaron answered. Now that Maru had drawn his attention to them, Sebastian noticed that the books did look rather familiar.

“In the ground?” Maru pressed.

“Yeah,” Aaron shrugged.

Maru and Sebastian shared a significant look. “Could I look –” Maru asked, reaching for the nearest book.

Gunther quickly snatched the stack of books away and stowed them behind the counter. “You can read them when they’re properly catalogued,” he interrupted.

Maru seemed like she was going to argue with that, so Sebastian nudged her in the ribs with an elbow. She shot him a dirty look, but thankfully didn’t press their luck.

“Why didn’t they disappear?” Maru hissed to Sebastian as all three of them exited back into the sunshine. “Those are the same ones, right?”

Sebastian nodded. He had hazy childhood memories of excavating those blue-backed books only for them to vanish minutes later. How Aaron managed to dig them up permanently, he didn’t know.

“Hey,” Aaron said jovially. “Do you guys want to –”

“Sebastian!” a familiar voice interrupted. He turned to see Abigail and Sam jogging across the bridge. “Man,” Sam said, “we haven’t seen you in forever!” He punched Sebastian playfully in the arm when he got close enough. “Where have you been?”

Before he could answer, Abigail jumped in. “I missed you, dude! Hey,” she continued, addressing the group. “Do you all wanna hang out with us?”

“Ah, I’m fine,” Maru excused herself. “I need to do some work at home. I’ll see you later, Sebastian.”

“Yeah, see you,” he replied.

“Do you wanna hang out with us, Aaron?” Sam asked.

Aaron shot a quick glance at Sebastian. He wasn’t certain what Aaron was looking for, but after a moment, he smiled widely. “Sure,” he said affably.

Abigail slung an arm around Sebastian’s shoulders. He tensed up, like he always did. Of course, Abigail didn’t let it deter her. “Were you just skulking around in your basement all week? You didn’t even come out for Friday hangout!”

“I was busy,” Sebastian protested. And he had been – busy with Maru’s suspicions and his own explorations.

“Sure,” Sam drawled. “Busy with all of your computer stuff, I guess.”

Sebastian just nodded. He didn’t feel like explaining Maru’s and his observations to the others. Abigail, he knew, would latch onto their suspicions and run with them – likely a little too far. She’d go overboard and get parents involved.

Sam would listen, but would be ultimately uninterested. Sebastian wasn’t about to subject himself to that. Disbelief would be far preferable to apathy – at least he could argue against that.

And Aaron... Aaron had dug up the blue-backed books. He had handed Sebastian the strange, ethereal frozen tear. Sebastian didn’t know what to make of him – but there was something fascinating about him.

Aaron did manage to fit in well with Sebastian’s small circle of friends. They spent the evening at the Stardrop Saloon, playing pool and getting roundly trounced by the AI at the Journey of the Prairie King. By the time they all parted for home, the sky was pitch black and it was difficult to remember a time when Aaron _wasn’t_ laughing and joking with the three of them.

When Abigail and Sam split off for their respective homes, Sebastian expected Aaron to do so as well. “Oh no,” Aaron said with a negligent wave of his hand. “I can walk with you, if that’s alright? There’s a quick path from the lake down to my house, so it’s not an inconvenience.”

“Oh,” Sebastian replied, startled. “Sure.” An uncomfortably familiar warmth settled under his ribcage.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, crickets chirping an accompaniment to their steps.

“Did you really like it?” Aaron suddenly asked.

“What?” Sebastian replied, taken off guard.

“The frozen tear,” Aaron elaborated. “Did you really like it?”

“Oh, is that what it’s called? Yeah, I really do like it,” Sebastian answered honestly. “It’s beautiful and... strange. But mostly beautiful.”

Aaron laughed. “I’m glad,” he said, and when he looked at Sebastian, his eyes were soft in the moonlight. It made something tighten in Sebastian’s chest. “I thought you would like it, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Maru studied it for a few days,” Sebastian told him, compelled into honesty. “I don’t know – she thinks there are strange things going on. Stranger things than usual,” he amended.

“Oh?” Aaron smiled, and Sebastian couldn’t tell if it was condescending or not. “Did she find anything?”

Sebastian shrugged, unwilling to explain. Aaron chuckled.

“Well,” he said. “When I found it in the mines, I just _knew_ I had to give it to you.”

A shiver ran down Sebastian’s spine. There was an odd weight to those words, a profundity that escaped him.

“It was a good guess,” he replied, his voice a touch strained.

Aaron just hummed. Ahead of the two of them, the lights of Sebastian’s house cut through the night.

“I... you know,” Sebastian blurted out. “When you come around the house, you can knock on my door.”

Aaron looked startled. “Oh,” he replied slowly. “But... I thought....”

“No,” Sebastian interrupted. “I mean, yes, I don’t usually – I mean....” He huffed out an exasperated breath.

Aaron smiled. “So...” he said, his gaze unbearably warm. “I can stop by more often then.”

“Yes,” Sebastian agreed. “You can.”

Aaron obviously took his words to heart. Over the course of the next several months, his visits to the house, and, by extension, to Sebastian, increased in number. By the time summer had become truly miserable, Sebastian and Aaron had gotten into the habit of hanging out together in Sebastian’s room for an hour or so every night.

“You and Aaron have gotten close,” Robin said smugly, passing the salt obligingly to Demetrius.

Sebastian shrugged. “I suppose,” he replied grudgingly. He’d known this was coming – his parents were very predictable.

“I told you that you’d like him,” Robin continued. “He’s a nice boy.”

Thankfully, the discussion soon moved on, Maru mercifully steering the conversation towards some sort of astronomical event that she was excited to observe. After dinner, she pulled him aside.

“We have to talk,” she muttered, in the tone that heralded another discussion about her observations about the strangeness of their hometown.

Sebastian sighed. His patience for these conferences had been dwindling. They’d been interesting when the only other option was the mundane tedium of small town life, but now he couldn’t help but think that the time would be better spent with Aaron.

But he still humored Maru, and they convened in Sebastian’s room like usual.

“I know you have a crush on him and everything, but I think Aaron’s the source of the weirdness,” Maru stated as soon as they sat down.

“What?” Sebastian replied, stunned.

“I mean, I’ve been thinking about this,” Maru explained. “And everything started getting weirder once he came to town. Also, just consider the farm itself – have you ever been there? Do you ever want to go there? Why is there this instinctual repulsion towards the farm?”

“No, back up.” Sebastian held up a hand. “A crush? I don’t... I mean, I’m not....”

Maru gave him an exasperated look. “Sebastian, I’ve grown up with you. I’ve seen you get a crush on Sally, that girl who used to live two towns over, Abigail, and Sam. I think I know what it looks like on you. That’s not the important part anyway.”

“I – I did not have a crush on Sam!” Sebastian sputtered.

Maru snorted. “You definitely did. Remember when Sam and Penny briefly got together? You were the very picture of thwarted love. You didn’t really forgive her for years.”

Sebastian tried to formulate an argument, but it made far too much sense. “I’m not gay,” he protested weakly.

Maru groaned. “Sebastian, do you really have to have your sexuality crisis now? Yes, you’re gay, or bi, or whatever. I’m also gay or bi or whatever. It’s fine. Can we move on?”

“Oh sure,” Sebastian snapped. “We can move on. Sorry my emotions are inconvenient, or whatever.”

Maru sighed. “Sebastian, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m –”

“Can we move on?” he interrupted harshly. “I’d rather talk about your paranoia about Aaron, really.”

“It’s not paranoia,” Maru defended. “Just... here, think about it. Everything was normal until he showed up, right? And he was the one who found the frozen tear and successfully dug up those books – I just think – ”

“Think what?” Sebastian spat, unwilling to put up with anymore of this. “That there’s something mysterious going on in this town? That only you can unlock the truth?”

“Well,” he continued cruelly, distantly aware that he was twisting the knife in deeper. “I think that I’ve humored you too long with this. You sound insane, Maru.”

She clenched her jaw, on the verge of tears. She opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Standing to her feet, she stiffly stalked to Sebastian’s door.

“That was unkind,” she told him in a small voice. “And I know you meant it to be. Goodnight, Sebastian.”

She closed the door softly behind her, and somehow that was worse than her slamming it shut.

Later that night, Aaron rapped on his door, like usual. Sebastian didn’t answer it. Aaron knocked again.

“Sebastian?” he called. “Are you in there?”

Sebastian debated for a moment whether or not he could get away with being very still and quiet and waiting for him to go away. “I don’t feel like talking tonight,” he finally replied.

“Oh,” Aaron said. He paused for a moment. “We could just sit together silently?” he offered.

“I’m sick,” Sebastian returned brusquely.

“Okay,” Aaron acquiesced. “Maybe tomorrow, then.” Sebastian heard his footsteps retreating back up the stairs.

Sebastian tried to convince himself that there hadn’t been a note of hurt in Aaron’s voice. He tossed and turned in bed, but sleep refused to come.

During his sleepless night, Sebastian mulled over Maru’s words. He really had no choice – whenever he tried to distract himself, he would remember her stoic refusal to cry, the wobble in her voice....

She was right, he finally concluded as the sun crested the horizon. About the weird occurrences, not... the other stuff. The true oddities seemed to be popping up around Aaron.

It took him awhile to find the will and to swallow his pride, but Sebastian managed to laboriously pull himself out of bed and up the stairs to Maru’s room. He knocked on her door.

When she didn’t respond, he knocked louder. Maru swung the door open. Her hair was in disarray, and she was glaring at him viciously. “What,” she snarled. Behind her, Sebastian could see the digital display of a clock reading “5:47”.

“Ah,” he said dumbly. “Uh, I’m sorry. I just... I wanted to apologize. That was unfair of me yesterday. Go back to sleep.”

Maru stared at him under her mess of hair. “We’ll talk about it when I wake up,” she grumbled, and then slammed the door in Sebastian’s face. He hurriedly retreated back downstairs, hoping that the noise hadn’t woken his parents.

Somehow, he managed to fall asleep, and he didn’t wake until the afternoon, when Maru was already out of the house and at work. He felt twitchy and impatient, disappointed that his insomnia couldn’t have held out long enough for them to have an early morning conversation.

He found himself unable to focus on anything, and with a growl, he stalked out of the room.

The day was overcast and cloudy, with threatening dark patches in the distance. Sebastian grabbed a pack of smokes and made his way to the train tracks. Somehow, the obstruction that had closed off the path to the old baths and the train tracks had disappeared early in the summer – another one of the oddities that Maru had noted.

Whatever the cause, no one else came out here, and Sebastian had found it to be a relaxing place to smoke alone.

The sky was darkening and Sebastian had just lit his third cigarette when Aaron stumbled out of a passage in the cliff face.

“Yoba’s light!” Sebastian yelped. “Aaron, what the fuck!”

Aaron jumped back and swung his sword into a defensive position, just as startled. “Holy Yoba, Sebastian,” he breathed. “Don’t do that to me. I didn’t think anyone else came out here.”

Sebastian smiled apologetically. “Yeah, neither did I.”

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked, obviously concerned. “You said you were sick yesterday.”

Sebastian shrugged uncomfortably. “I... I wasn’t really sick. I just... Maru said some things. About... um. Well. About you. And I had to sort out everything – in my head, I mean. So I said I was sick, because that was – I didn’t really....” Sebastian huffed out a breath, trying to marshal his words into some semblance of order. “I didn’t want to have to explain. Not while everything was a mess.”

Aaron peered at him curiously. “So, did you?” he asked. “Manage to sort everything out, that is?”

Sebastian snorted. “Yeah, no, not even close,” he replied self-deprecatingly.

Aaron nodded. “That’s okay,” he said, and Sebastian felt a weight removed from his shoulders that he hadn’t even known was there. “Next time,” he continued gently, “just tell me, okay? You never have to lie – not to me.”

“Thank you,” Sebastian said truthfully. “I... it means a lot.”

“Of course,” Aaron replied, devastatingly gentle. “Do you want me to come by tonight?”

“I have to talk to Maru,” Sebastian said, surprised at the twinge of disappointment he felt at the thought of having to wait another day to hang out with Aaron. “But tomorrow, I promise. I’ll... I’ll have everything sorted out by then.”

Aaron smiled. “Whatever you need,” he told the other boy. He paused. “Can I hug you? Or would that be too much?”

Sebastian tried to fight down a blush, but was reasonably sure that he was unsuccessful. “N-no,” he stammered. “That’s... I would like a hug.”

Slowly, carefully, Aaron stepped closer and gathered Sebastian into his arms. He was warm and soft and smelled like the sea. Sebastian cautiously brought up his arms to circle Aaron’s waist. Aaron’s hair tickled his cheek, and Sebastian couldn’t stop himself from burying his head a little deeper into Aaron’s shoulder.

After what felt like ages, but was probably only a handful of seconds, Aaron withdrew. Sebastian reluctantly separated from him. It felt like his face was on fire.

Aaron gently brushed the hair off of Sebastian’s forehead with a calloused hand. Sebastian could swear that his heart skipped a beat.

“Take care of yourself,” Aaron murmured. Sebastian couldn’t bring himself to look him in the eyes.

“T-thanks,” he stuttered. “You too.”

Only after Aaron departed for the farm did Sebastian realize that was he had assumed to be a passage in the cliff face was nothing more than a strange shadow. He paced the whole length of the cliff, but there was no tunnel or passage for Aaron to have come from. His blood ran cold.

He had to tell Maru.

“I’m sorry,” Sebastian told a wooden-faced Maru after dinner. “I... I don’t like what I said. I don’t believe it either. You just... I....” He sighed. “I think you’re right. And I’m sorry I couldn’t accept that last night.”

Maru nodded, relaxing visibly. “Okay,” she replied. “Thank you.”

She hadn’t said that she forgave him, and she was still a little stiff, but it was a start. Sebastian would have to be satisfied with that.

“Another strange thing happened with Aaron today,” he told her, changing the subject clumsily. He then explained the incident at the train tracks, leaving out the more embarrassing bits.

“Hmmm,” Maru hummed, obviously perturbed.

“How do you think we should approach this?” Sebastian asked her. “I’m... not entirely sure how aware of all of this Aaron is.” Sebastian would be the first to admit that he was terrible with people, but he’d been talking to Aaron so much in the past couple months that he was reasonably certain that the other man didn’t notice, or at least didn’t place much importance on the strange occurrences around him.

“We...” Maru started tentatively. “Well, I’ve been putting this off, but it might be a good idea.”

“What?” Sebastian asked tiredly. “We’ve gotten nowhere on this. I’m up for anything.”

“I think we should go talk to the man who lives in the tower.”

“Nevermind!” Sebastian exclaimed. “I’m not up for that! Yoba’s light, Maru, that man is creepy as fuck!”

“Yeah?” Maru challenged. “And all of this isn’t? Come on Sebastian – you said it yourself – we’re not getting anywhere by ourselves.”

“Oh Yoba,” Sebastian moaned, burying his head in his hands. “I can’t believe you’re talking me into this. Fine! Fine!” he cried, standing abruptly. “Let’s go before I lose my nerve.”

“Now?” Maru asked skeptically. “It’s late.”

“Before I lose my nerve,” Sebastian repeated.

Maru sighed. “Fine, brother. Let me get my shoes and we’ll go.”

When they arrived at the strange tower on the far side of the forest lake, light was still streaming from the windows, flickering in a disquieting rhythm.

“Losing your nerve?” Maru asked wryly, glancing at Sebastian. The full moon hung above them, casting stark shadows as it shone through the trees.

Sebastian took a deep breath, but didn’t reply. He pushed in front of Maru to knock on the door. He heard a few footsteps, and then nothing. He knocked harder.

The door swung open, revealing a man with a riotous mess of purple hair. “What?” the man barked. “Shouldn’t you kids be in bed? It’s almost 11pm.”

Sebastian opened his mouth to retort, but Maru dug her elbow sharply into his side. “Sorry, sir,” she replied politely. “But we just wanted to talk to you about... well....” She started to fidget.

“There’s weird things going on,” Sebastian interrupted. “Weirder than usual. What do you know?”

The man scowled. “It’s best if you kids kept out of all of that. Don’t dig around in things that don’t concern you.”

“They do concern me,” Sebastian snapped. “Because they concern my – my friend. A lot of them are centered around him, and I... I just want to know what’s happening.”

The man looked Sebastian up and down, evaluating him with a shrewd gaze. “And you?” he finally asked Maru.

She shrugged. “It’s my town,” she said simply. “What else could I do?”

The man looked almost approving at that. “Alright,” he acquiesced gruffly, stepping to one side. “You kids better come in then.”

“ _Do_ you know what’s happening?” Maru asked as the man shut the door. Sebastian took the time to study the tower. It smelled musty, and the walls were lined with overfull bookshelves. In the center of the tower, there was a cauldron surrounded by a pentagram.

“Are you a wizard, or something?” he asked.

The man snorted. “Sit down, both of you,” he told the pair. “Your manners are abominable.” Maru looked a touch abashed. The siblings chose seats on the same side of a round wooden table, while the man sat across from them.

“I don’t know for sure,” he answered Maru. “And yes, I’m a wizard,” he confirmed, shooting an unimpressed glance at Sebastian.

“What’s your best guess?” Maru inquired.

The wizard sat back in his seat, his fingers steepled thoughtfully. “There have never been any miners in those mines,” he said, apropos of nothing. “At least, not any human ones.”

Sebastian laughed. Neither of the other two did. “Oh, come on,” he said disdainfully. “Then how do you explain how deep those mines go, if no one ever mined it?”

“I didn’t say no one ever mined it,” the wizard rebuked him. “I said that no human had ever mined it.”

Sebastian snorted. “Let me guess – dwarves mined it, then.” At the expression on the wizard’s face, he burst into laughter. “Really? Dwarves?”

“I’m... also skeptical of this,” Maru said. “It sounds....”

“Farfetched?” the wizard interrupted. “Fine,” he spat. “I knew it would go like this.”

“No,” Maru backpedaled. “I’m sorry. We didn’t really hear you out. Will you please continue? I promise we won’t interrupt.” She glared at Sebastian as if daring him to contradict her. He stayed silent.

The wizard looked unsure, but he finally continued. “The dwarves believe everything under the earth belongs to them,” he said solemnly. “This isn’t quite true, of course. Some creatures have been there long before dwarves even dreamed of this earth. And thus, the dwarves have had their conflicts, but none so long or bloody than the one with the shadow men. They called it the Elemental Wars, and although it is ancient history, both races have long lives and even longer memories.”

“And...” Sebastian drawled. “You think this weirdness has to do with these shadow men? Or is it the dwarves? Are elves too Tolkien for you?”

The wizard scowled. “Laugh if you want,” he told Sebastian contemptuously. “You asked for my help. This is all I have to give.”

Maru thanked him politely for his time, shooting upset glares at Sebastian, and they both left for home, the wizard slamming the door behind them.

Neither of them discussed the wizard’s tale, but when Sebastian slept that night, his dreams were full of shadowy men with glowing, white eyes and viciously sharp swords that dripped with some sort of smoky ichor. In the morning, the images slipped away from him, leaving him only with a hazy disquiet.

“You could have been nicer,” Maru said to him sharply when they ran into each other in the kitchen.

“What did you want me to do, Maru?” Sebastian asked exasperatedly. “It sounded like he was feeding us shit from Lord of the Rings! At least the monsters that the dwarves found when they dug too far and too deep were made of shadow instead of fire.”

Maru huffed out a breath. “It could be real?” she offered without conviction.

Sebastian threw her a wry look.

“Do you have any other ideas, then?” she asked tiredly.

He shrugged. “No, not really. Just... more observation, I guess?”

Maru sighed. “It’s all we can do, I suppose.”

Sebastian met with Aaron that night, and he tried to put all thoughts of dwarves and shadows and bloodshed out of his mind. It was surprisingly easy to do so, to focus on his deep blue eyes and his nimble fingers that animatedly sketch out pictures in the air. Aaron laughed at Sebastian’s jokes – real, true laughs – and Sebastian told more jokes than he ever had in his life, just to hear that sound again and again.

When Aaron left, his mouth curled in a smile and his hand lingering on Sebastian’s shoulder, Sebastian realized that Maru had been right about this too.

“Fuck,” he said into his pillow, and resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. He didn’t know how to deal with this any more than he knew how to approach the strangeness in his town. He wished, desperately, hopelessly, that this would all go away, that he wouldn’t have to worry about any of this anymore.

But the next morning, when he caught a glimpse of Aaron again, his heart fluttered excitedly and he could feel a blush creeping into his cheeks. That night, he gave into temptation, and when Aaron knocked on his bedroom door, he stayed completely silent and pretended that he wasn’t there. After a few more curious knocks, Aaron retreated. Sebastian let out a sigh of relief.

He repeated that the next night, but a few minutes after Aaron left, Robin burst into his room.

“Yoba’s light, Mom!” he yelped. “What the hell?”

“Language,” she scolded, a hard look in her eyes. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Sebastian asked, confused.

“If you don’t feel like talking to that boy, at least have the grace to say that to his face,” his mom replied sharply. “Don’t string him along.”

“I’m not!” Sebastian protested.

“Alright then,” Robin said implacably. “Then tomorrow you talk to him, and you don’t pull this childish stunt again.”

Sebastian had no choice other than to nod and promise to speak to Aaron the next day.

“Hey,” Aaron greeted him cautiously, and Sebastian realized with a sickening jolt what Sebastian’s actions might have seemed like from his perspective.

“I’m so sorry.” The words burst out of him. “It’s not you, at all, I swear.”

Aaron laughed, but he was more subdued than usual. “Is this the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech?” There was an unexpected tinge of bitterness in his voice.

“I-I mean,” Sebastian stuttered, “It really is me. I’m just... I....”

Aaron smiled wryly. “I get it,” he said. “I do. Thanks for... well, thanks for trying to let me down gently.”

“What?” Sebastian asked.

“Letting me down gently?” Aaron repeated. “You’re not doing a great job with it, but you’re trying your best to be kind.”

“I’m not... Why would you think I was rejecting you?”

“Isn’t this what this is about?” Aaron asked slowly. “You noticed my crush, and you got uncomfortable, but then you finally –”

“Noticed your crush?” Sebastian replied incredulously. “You have a crush?”

“Yes,” Aaron said, confused. “I thought... you really didn’t know?”

“No!” Sebastian exclaimed. “I was avoiding you because of my crush!”

The two of them paused for a long moment. “Your crush,” Aaron repeated slowly. “Your crush... on me?”

Sebastian nodded reluctantly.

“Okay,” Aaron said. “Okay. Well. Um. I suppose this would be a good time to tell you that I have a crush on you too.”

Sebastian felt an incredulous smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Oh! Well, that’s convenient.”

Aaron snorted, gazing fondly at Sebastian. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I would say that it’s convenient.”

They parted that night with lingering fingers and sweet words. They hadn’t kissed, hadn’t even gotten much past casual, light touches and murmured endearments. But Aaron stared at his lips as Sebastian wished him goodnight, and Sebastian resolved, with a giddy excitement, to kiss him tomorrow.

Which meant, of course, everything had to come to a head the next day.

It started relatively normally. It was overcast in the morning when the weather report last night had assured them that it would be sunny, clear skies all day long. This suited Sebastian just fine, and he took the opportunity to smoke a couple cigarettes out by the lake.

Thus, he noticed as a strange purple fog began to roll in from the direction of town. He watched its progression curiously. It moved quickly – far too quickly, considering that there was only a very gentle breeze that day. Minutes after he noticed it, Sebastian was engulfed in a purple haze that smelled distressingly of sulfur.

Sebastian coughed, his eyes watering. He held his sleeve over his nose and mouth, but that only helped a bit.

He stumbled towards the house, but before he was halfway there, the purple sulfur cloud disappeared. Sebastian greedily gulped deep breaths of clean air.

Maru threw the front door open, looking around wildly. She caught sight of Sebastian and stalked towards him.

“What happened?” she demanded. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” wheezed Sebastian. “And I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

At that, Maru turned the full force of her attention on Sebastian. “Are you?” she asked, observing him with a critical eye.

“Yeah,” Sebastian reassured her. “It came from town, or somewhere near it.”

“Alright,” Maru said. “Let’s go investigate.” Sebastian followed her without complaint.

The world was deathly still. No birds chirped, no squirrels or rabbits ran across their path. The town, too, was silent. Windows were dark and nothing moved. The dog near Evelyn and George’s house was nowhere to be seen.

The only sound was a rhythmic thumping, like an amplified heartbeat. Maru and Sebastian wordlessly followed it. After a while, Sebastian noticed that he was not the one controlling his feet. He tried to stop, to turn back, but his feet marched onward. He tried to call out to Maru, but his mouth stayed firmly shut.

As they crossed the river, Sebastian realized that the heartbeat was coming from the library. More accurately, it was coming from the space where the library used to be. In its place was a dark, gaping void.

Sebastian glanced at the void. In the inky blackness, he saw movement in incomprehensible dimensions, pieces and parts of creatures that he had no words to describe. He quickly looked away, but it already felt like his eyes were bleeding and that _things_ were swimming in his skull.

As he turned his attention away from the site of the former library, he caught sight of Aaron. He was entirely unfamiliar. His normally blue eyes were pitch black, and he held himself stiffly, unnaturally, like he was some sort of marionette.

In his hands, Aaron held a blue-backed book, and his mouth was moving, but Sebastian couldn’t hear what he was saying. The heartbeat drowned him out.

Sebastian and Maru halted a handful of meters away from the swirling darkness.

: _Witnesses_ : the void groaned, and Sebastian clapped his hands over his ears and screwed his eyes shut. He could feel a trickle of blood against his palms. : _You cannot... prevent this._ :

Sebastian couldn’t respond. He thought, suddenly, of the wizard’s stories about shadow men and dwarves. This was even more incomprehensible than that.

: _We have... been trapped here_ : the shadows said. Sebastian realized that they weren’t speaking English, but something that sounded like many languages all layered on top of each other. Somehow he could understand them. : _Our true forms... inaccessible._ :

: _Revenge!_ : they cried out, and Sebastian peeled his eyes open to see the shadows surging into the sky. : _They will pay in blood!_ :

With a last final shriek, the shadows shot downward, plunging into Aaron. His mouth opened in a silent scream and Sebastian could see the shadows writhing in his throat. He tried to reach for him, tried to call out, but there was a deafening clap of thunder, a blindingly white light, and then Sebastian knew no more.

* * *

“Sebastian! Sebastian!”

Sebastian woke groggily, opening his eyes to see Aaron’s face hovering above his. “Are you okay?” Aaron asked, obviously agitated. “Can you sit up?”

With Aaron’s help, he managed to raise himself into a sitting position. “What?” Sebastian said groggily. “What hap–”

He cut himself off with a start, the memories flooding back. “Aaron!” he cried, grasping his wrist. The other boy jumped in surprise. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied, giving Sebastian a concerned look. “I’m fine. You’re the one who collapsed in the middle of town.”

“But, the library,” Sebastian protested, “and the shadows, and....”

“What about the library?” Aaron asked curiously.

“It was gone!” Sebastian exclaimed. “Don’t you remember?”

Aaron leaned to the side. Sebastian was confused until he caught sight of the library behind Aaron, looking like it always had. “What?” Sebastian breathed.

“I think it was a dream,” Aaron said gently, running his fingers soothingly through Sebastian’s hair. If it was anyone else, Sebastian would have yelled at them, but, well, it was Aaron. “Or a hallucination, or something.”

“I –” Sebastian tried to articulate what he had seen, to explain. There had been shadows, all-consuming, and they had poured out of Aaron’s mouth and coalesced into indescribable beings. The more he grasped for the words, the more the whole thing slipped away from him. He remembered tiny, broken bodies, like fallen sparrows, cast aside. “There was –” There had been a reason he had come out here – something about Maru, and Aaron, and.... “Where –”

“Why am I here?” he finally asked Aaron. He blinked, and for a moment, he saw blood staining Aaron’s lips. “I... think I was supposed to remember, but I don’t.”

Aaron helped him to his feet. “Did you hit your head?” Aaron massaged his skull carefully, feeling for bumps or abrasions.

“I don’t think so,” Sebastian replied, leaning a little bit into Aaron’s hands. The touch was somehow warmer than he expected.

Aaron chuckled softly, scratching Sebastian’s scalp gently before withdrawing. “Okay,” he said, “but I’m still going to take you to see Harvey.” He kissed Sebastian lightly on the cheek.

“Okay,” Sebastian agreed in a daze, touching his hand to his cheek. He stared into Aaron’s clear blue eyes as he attempted to work up the courage to return the kiss.

For a moment, he thought he saw something swimming in their depths, something dark and shadowy and gleeful....

But then Aaron swooped down to kiss him again, and his world was warmth and giddiness and the wild beat of his heart, and the suspicion slipped away.

Aaron’s mouth curved into a smile against Sebastian’s lips.


End file.
